[In Class] Morning Writing – Why are you here?

For my entire life, I thought I would go to a regular university and study academics. I’ve always enjoyed art but going to school for it never felt like an option to me. During my final semester of my high school year, I thought, “wow, if I could make a living doing art, that would be the dream because it wouldn’t feel like work!” So I gave it a shot. I put together my art portfolio and applied to two art schools last minute (CCA and SAIC). When I heard back from all the schools I’ve applied for, I was extremely surprised with the amount of scholarship they offered me to the point I thought it was a scam. I was pretty set on going to SAIC because they’ve offered me a pretty much full ride and it was more renown than CCA. However, I made the choice to attend CCA mainly because of the location. I’ve always dreamt about living in California (I was living in a tiny town in Pennsylvania). Also, CCA had an animation program that I was interested in pursuing as a major while SAIC was heavily focused on fine arts. I came in as an animation major because I was interested in VR, CGI, and making things look hyper-realistic. I soon realized that CCA wasn’t the school for that kind of animation. I was always striving towards making the behaviors look real and believable. I would observe how people moved. I was in the program for two years but I didn’t feel satisfied. I thought I was an introvert but I started to miss working with people. I was always drawing and it never really felt like I was learning anything new. This is when I also realized I was more focused on the ‘why’ of the human behaviors rather than mimicking their motions on screen. Switching my major was one of the best decisions I’ve made in CCA. It delayed my graduation year by a year but I do not regret this choice (I am however, worried about paying for the extra year of tuition). I came into this program knowing almost nothing about interaction design. However, I do know I’m having a lot of fun in my Design Research class with Johannes and this story class. I’m less focused on the visual aspect of interaction design. Even last semester, I enjoyed Foundations over Visual IxD. I think I find background research quite powerful. It’s the foundation of any product, design, or experience. I enjoy talking to people and figuring out the ‘why’ in their behaviors and finding out what they actually need. To be honest, I don’t have a set mindset of what kind of designer I want to be yet- but through this class, I’m realizing stories (opportunities) exist everywhere for any design. It just depends on how I choose analyze and study the information. I think in a way, this part of design holds so much power and is crucial to any design process. I am interested in pursuing this direction and taking responsibility of this skill. Also, I’ve always (even when I was in animation) wanted to go to grad school for psychology. In general, I’m fascinated by how complex humans are and how their minds affect their lifestyle choices.